Characteristics of the Sections of a Form

 

Inroduction to the Colors of Sections

In all forms we have created so far, unless using the Form Wizard or occupying it with a picture, the body of the form was painted with a white color. If you don't enjoy white forms, you can set the background to a color of your choice.

Unlike the picture, the form (fortunately) does not control its background color. This aspect is left to each section to manage.

The Background Color of a Section

Before specifying the color of a form, first click or select the intended section. To change the background color of a section:

• On the Ribbon, click Home and, in the Text Formatting section, select a color from the Background Color button
• Right-click a section, position the mouse on Fill/Back Color and click the desired color
   
  
• On the Ribbon, click Format. In the Control Formatting section, click the Shape Fill button
• Access the Properties window of the section. In the Format or the All tab, click the Back Color field. If you click the arrow of the property, you can select a familiar color from the list
   
  
  
  Otherwise, you can click the browse button. This would display a list of colors similar to that of the Font/Fore Color window

Unlike the Background Color (and the Font Color) of the Text Formatting sections of the Home and the Design categories of the Ribbon, when you right-click a section of a form and position the mouse on Background Color, the colors that display do not show their tool tip, which would indicate their names. Because the layout of colors is the same as the Background Color and the Font Color windows of the Text Formatting sections of the Home and the Design categories of he Ribbon, we will use their names.

Practical Learning: Setting Background Color

1. Open the Hotel Management1 database from the previous lesson
2. In the Navigation Pane, right-click Central and click Design View
3. On the form, click the Form Header bar to select its section
4. On the Ribbon, click Home
5. In the Text Formatting section, click the arrow of the Background Color button and select Dark Blue 5 (4th column - 6th row)
6. On the form, right-click under the Detail bar, position the mouse on Fill/Back Color and click Medium Gray 2 (3rd column - 3rd row)
7. On the form, double-click the section under the Form Footer bar
8. In the Properties window, click the Format bar and click Back Color
9. Click the arrow of the field and select Background Form
10. To save the form, press Ctrl + S

The Alternate Color of a Tabular Form

If you decide to create a tabular form, you can make all rows show their backgrounds in the same color

As an alternative, you can make even rows show their background in one color and odd rows show their background in another color. To do this, display the form in Design View, click the Header bar and set the desired color using any of the techniques we saw above. That color would apply to the odd rows. To specify the color of the even rows:

• On the Ribbon, click Format. In the Color Formatting section, click the arrow of the Alternate Row Color button and proceed to select or create a color as we described already for the background color

• Right-click the Header bar or an empty area in the header section, position the mouse on Alternate Fill/Back Color and select a color from the window
• Access the Properties window of the header section. In the Format or the All tab, click the Alternate Back Color field. Use either the arrow of the combo box to select a color by name or use the ellispsis button to select color by viewing it

Here is an example:

Special Effects

Microsoft Access provides some special visual effects used to raise or sink, etc a section of a form or report, a label or a field. These effects can be controlled by using the Special Effect field in the Properties window.

Practical Learning: Using Special Effects

1. The Central form should still be opened in Design View.
   On the form, click the Form Header bar
2. In the Format tab of the Properties window, click Special Effect and click the arrow of the field to select Raised
3. On the form, click under the Form Footer bar
4. In the Format tab of the Properties window, double-click Special Effect to set its value to Raised
5.  Save the form

Automatic Design of a Form

 

Using a Theme

If you create a form in Design View, you would have the regular design. You can apply one of the designs supplied by Microsoft Access.

To use one of the pre-designs available in Microsoft Access, open the form in either the Design View or the Layout View (to do this, in the Navigation Pane, you can right-click the form and click Layout View. If the form is currently opened, on the right side of the status bar, you can click the Layout View button). On the Ribbon, click Design if necessary. In the Themes section, click the Themes button. This would display a window with the available themes:

By default, the window displays 1 and 16 themes. To show more, click the down-pointint arrow or use its scroll bar to navigate. Each theme has a name that appears as a tool tip when you position the mouse on it. To apply one of the themes to your form, simply click it. If you have other themes on the computer, you can click Browse For Themes, locate the desired theme and select it.

After selecting a theme, you make not like some of its colors. You are free to change any aspect on the form. After making changes, if you like the new display and you want to keep it for future use, on the Ribbon, click Themes and click Save Current Theme.

Using a Group of Preset Colors

One of the ways you can make the design of a form appear professional is to coordinate colors. To assist you with this, Microsoft Access provides a series of coordinated colors you can directly apply to your form. Before using this option, open the form in Design View or in Layout View. On the Ribbon, click Design. In the Themes section, click Colors and select from the list:

Using a Group of Preset Fonts

Microsoft Access provides an option to apply a group of fonts to various objects on a form. To use it, open the form in Design View or in Layout View. In the Themes section of the Design tab of the Ribbon, click the arrow of the Fonts button and select one of the options from the window.

Dialog Boxes

 

Introduction

A dialog box is a rectangular object that is used to host or carry other controls:

A dialog box is primarily characterized by two features: its title bar and its body. The title bar, on top of the dialog box, can have a title and has the system close button. Although this is the normal appearance of a dialog box, it is not strictly exclusive. Some dialog boxes display the system icon. On the right side of the title bar, a classic dialog box displays only the system Close button made of X. Again, this is not exclusive. It is not unusual for a dialog box to display the minimize and the maximize/restore buttons. To use a dialog box, the user must open it one way or another. Your job is to decide how and when the user will be able to open a dialog box.

Creating a Dialog Box

There are various ways you can create a dialog box in Microsoft Office Access 2010:

• To let the application generate a dialog box for you, on the Ribbon, click Create:
  • In the Forms section, click More Forms -> Modal Dialog
  • & In the Templates section, click Application Parts and click Dialog

• To create the dialog box yourself, start a form in Design View. To convert an existing form into a dialog box, set its b> Border Style property value to Dialog. This reduces the system buttons to the Close button only

There are two types of dialog boxes: modal and modeless.

Practical Learning: Creating a Modal Dialog Box

1. From the resources that accompany these lessons, open the Bethesda Car Rental1 database
2. On the Ribbon, click Create and, in the Forms section, click Form Design
3. Double-click the button at the intersection of the rulers to access its properties.
   In the Properties window, click the Format tab and click Border Style. Then click the arrow of the Border Style field and select Dialog
4. Switch it to Form View to preview
5. Save the form as RentalRates and switch it back to Design View
6. In the Properties window, click the Format tab and click Caption
7. Type Bethesda Car Rental - Rental Rates and press Enter
8. Click Width. Type 4.375 and press Enter
9. To complete the dialog box, in the Format tab of the Properties window, change the following properties:
   Auto Center: Yes
   Record Selectors = No
   Navigation Buttons = No
10. Click the Detail bar to select it. Then, in the Format tab of the Properties window, click Height. Type 1.875 and press Enter
11. Preview and save the form
12. Switch it back to Design View

Modal Dialog Boxes

A dialog box is characterized as modal if the user must close it before continuing with another task on the same application.

In order to use a dialog box in your application, you should analyze a scenario and define if the dialog box is necessary. Use a dialog box if you want the user to first terminate whatever task he or she would be performing. For example, if a user is performing a payment of an order processing, it is natural to process and finish that payment before starting another task.

A classic (or normal) dialog box would need neither a Record Selectors bar nor the record navigation buttons. Therefore, you should decide how the dialog box would be used. If you want a regular dialog box as those available on non-database applications, you should set the Record Selectors, the Navigation Buttons and the Dividing Lines properties to No each.

Modeless Dialog Boxes

A dialog box is referred to as modeless if the user does not have to close it in order to continue using the application that owns the dialog box. The Find dialog box of most applications is an example of a modeless dialog box. If it is opened, the user does not have to close it in order to use the application or the document in the background.

Since the modeless dialog box does not display its button on the task bar, the user should know that the dialog box is opened. To make the presence of a modeless dialog box obvious to the user, it typically displays on top of its host application until the user closes it.

To create a modeless dialog box, or to convert a form into a modeless dialog box, in Design View, set the Popup property (Other and All tabs) to Yes. This makes sure that the user can work on another form and the modeless dialog box or form would remain on top of any other form of your database.

Practical Learning: Creating a Modeless Dialog Box

1. The Bethesda Car Rental1 database should still be opened with the Rental Rates dialog box in Design View.
   To make it a modeless dialog box, in the Properties window, click the Other tab. Double-click Pop Up to change its value from No to Yes
2. Save and close the Rental Rates dialog box

Lesson Summary

     

Exercises

 

Yugo National Bank

1. Open the Yugo National Bank1 database
2. Configure the database to display in overlapping windows

Watts A loan

1. Open the Watts A Loan1 database
2. Configure the database to display in overlapping windows

     

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